Sick senators, Amazon shipping delays, and more COVID fallout
Posted by Robert Leonard / March 24, 2020
The fallout from COVID-19 continues. Rand Paul tested positive for COVID-19. What’s worse, he tested positive six days before he stopped going to work on the Hill, so you can expect more sick senators in the days and weeks to come.
Massachusetts citizens are under a stay-at-home order, the latest state since New Jersey’s governor announced a stay-at-home order. Weddings, parties, and any other kind of gatherings are canceled.
California, Illinois, and New York are all on lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. The states have ordered that everyone stay at home unless they have a vital reason to be out, including grocery shopping, buying medicine, or exercise. It’s not stopping Californians from hitting the beach, however.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, “No, this is not life as usual.” How right he is. Even the IRS is delaying the April 15th deadline by 90 days for the vast majority of taxpayers. Check your individual states to see if they’ve changed the deadline.
News about the coronavirus is changing so fast that it’s almost impossible to keep up. Trump is currently being criticized for ignoring briefings by Obama officials on dealing with pandemics.
Just yesterday, the EU announced that it will ban all nonessential travel into Europe, Canada did the same, and the Dow suffered its largest drop since 1987. As more cities and counties (including six counties in the Bay Area alone) urge lockdowns, Mitt Romney called for every US adult to receive $1,000 to deal with the economic fallout.
A new study has learned that coronavirus can survive for 72 hours on stainless steel and plastic surfaces, on cardboard up to 24 hours, and at least 3 hours in the air. This helps to explain COVID-19 is so contagious. The good news is that a test developed in Ireland can detect C-19 in 15 minutes.
In other recent news, Austria has banned gatherings of more than five people to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Researchers at Erasmus MC and Utrecht University have discovered an antibody for COVID-19. Their discovery first needs to be peer reviewed and then tested before it can be wide disseminated, but these are promising early steps.
In more good news, South Korea has reported more coronavirus recoveries than cases for the first time, indicating that South Korea has the disease under control. Considering that South Korea had the most severe outbreak in Asia outside of China, this is fantastic news.
President Trump announced that he is closing U.S. borders to travelers from Europe (excluding U.S. permanent residents). Additionally, the NBA has canceled all games from the rest of the season, as have other major sporting leagues. What’s perhaps worst of all, Tom Hanks and his wife has tested positive for coronavirus.
There are no more than 1,000 cases of the novel coronavirus in the United States, with at least 31 thousand deaths. Health officials are warning that the virus’s spread is inevitable and Americans should prepare for serious disruptions to daily life. Multiple universities have announced that they are switching to remote learning.
Donald Trump shook hands with CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp last week––usually no bid deal, but apparently Mr. Schlapp had been exposed to coronavirus and has since tested positive.
The number of coronavirus cases has risen in Europe, with some 41 deaths in Italy in the last day and nine total deaths in France, with a total of nearly 600 cases.
Meanwhile, the virus is making its way through the U.S. Washington State has the dubious honor of being the first U.S. state with a coronavirus death.
The Center for Disease Control has said it is likely the coronavirus will reach pandemic levels in the United States, and they’re suggesting that American “prepare for the expectation that this might be bad.” Work and schools may be canceled or transitioned to teleconferencing.
\More news.
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